Wound healing is a natural process to restore damaged tissues due to loss of tissue integrity. Moringa oleifera (locally known as merunggai in Malaysia) has been traditionally used in various ailments, including for wound management. To evaluate the wound healing properties in M. oleifera, publications were searched and selected following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement with predetermined inclusion criteria. The databases searched for primary studies include PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, LILACS, ClinicalTrials.gov, and CENTRAL. In total, 18 in vivo studies were included, which involved the leaves, while the remaining 5 studies involved other plant parts tested on excision, incision, dead space, abrasion, and burn-induced wound models. All studies reported significant wound healing abilities. Most studies used different topical formulations of aqueous leaves extract. The accumulation of collagen content and underlying wound healing mechanism through antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities may be contributed by its bioactive phytochemical content, which has the potential to accelerate the wound contraction, increase the rate of epithelialization, and protect tissues against oxidative damage. In conclusion, M. oleifera showed wound healing potential but further studies are warranted to determine the main bioactive phytocompounds and safety.

Kaempferia parviflora, also known as black ginger, is a popular medicinal plant among the Southeast Asian community. Recently, there has been increased interest in further exploring the potential health benefits and therapeutic applications of K. parviflora in Malaysia, Thailand's neighboring country. This review provides an overview of current literature regarding K. parviflora's traditional use and literature on efficacy and safety. We found that, traditionally, K. parviflora was used for gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, as sexual stimulants, and body nourishment. K. parviflora demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiobesity, anticancer, vascular relaxation, and antimicrobial effects. In humans, there is evidence of its general benefits on physical fitness. In conclusion, K. parviflora is a plant with significant potential for various pharmacological applications. The rhizome is most popularly used and investigated, with polymethoxyflavones as the main bioactive phytoconstituent.

Background: With rising obesity rates worldwide, clinical trials focused on identifying effective treatments are increasing. While guidelines exist for pharmaceutical drugs targeting obesity, there are none for herbal medicine clinical trials for anti-obesity. Both industries refer to the same guidelines for clinical trials. Objectives: This scoping review aimed to gather information from herbal medicine anti-obesity randomised controlled trials (RCTs), analyse the methodologies and assess their alignment with international guidelines. Eligibility criteria: This review included RCTs of participants of all ages with obesity utilising herbal medicine with any comparators and focusing on various outcome measures. Sources of evidence: Only published journal articles were included. Charting methods: Articles were extracted from MEDLINE, CENTRAL and EMBASE using predetermined keywords. Relevant data, such as the study characteristics, types of herbal interventions and controls, treatment durations, outcome measures and safety monitoring methods were recorded in a table format for comparative analysis. Results: We included 99 RCTs that showed participant sample sizes ranging from 8 to 182, ages 18 to 80 years and body mass indexes (BMIs) between 25 and 49.9 kg/m². Herbal interventions used single herbs ( n = 57) and mixtures ( n = 42), given for 14 days to 56 weeks. Studies implementing diet modifications include restricted calorie diets ( n = 35), food-portion controlled diets ( n = 7) and fixed calorie diets ( n = 7). Of the 28 studies implementing exercise, most were of moderate intensity ( n = 22). All studies collected BMI and weight as primary outcomes. Body fat composition was measured in over 50% of studies using a body analyser ( n = 57). Waist, hip and abdominal circumferences were infrequently measured. Radiological tools used include dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry ( n = 16), computed tomography scans ( n = 10) and ultrasound ( n = 2). Safety monitoring methods were reported in most studies ( n = 76). Conclusion: In conclusion, almost 50% of the studies adhered to international pharmaceutical clinical trial guidelines, addressing dietary, lifestyle, physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors. Nonetheless, more herbal anti-obesity studies need to consider the assessment of weight maintenance.